Rahaf Asad. Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art. New Talents Award Nominee 2025

Name of graduation student: Rahaf Asad
Name of guiding teachers: Yael Ouliel and Orina Parente

Nominated by Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art.


Throughout the mentoring process with Rahaf, we had the privilege of accompanying a sensitive young designer who chose to confront complex and charged questions of identity through the medium of jewelry.  
Her project engages the social and political complexity of Palestinian identity within the unique structure of Israeli society, navigating the tension between belonging and not belonging.

Our weekly dialogues were shaped by the presentation of ideas and the exploration of various creative paths, during which Rahaf developed a material and personal language that successfully translates emotional tension into precise, powerful, and moving objects.  
The way her pieces interact with the body through movement, embroidery and form creates a sustained sense of tension that conveys the experience of fragmentation, duality, and the internal gaps at the heart of her identity.  
Our mentoring process allowed her to deepen her inner expression without compromising technical excellence or conceptual clarity.
/ Yael Ouliel & Orina Parente


Statement of the artist:​
The project deals with the complexity of the Palestinian identity of the Arabs of 48, the inability to fully celebrate my identity, and the tension created by the feeling of belonging and not belonging. My jewelry reflects the duality and contradictions I experience in coping with these conflicting emotions. I aim to express this emotional tension through the shapes, the embroidery, and movements that emerge from the interaction between the objects and the body. Either reflect extremes of unity and division, serving as a mirror to the complexity of my identity.


Contact:
Email: rahaf.asad01@gmail.com
Instagram: @rahafas01

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